Tin Soldiers
by MariSkep
Summary: A response to Rinnegan97's Rinnegan Naruto Challenge. An assassination attempt on Naruto leads to him developing the Sharingan. At age three he has potential to be the weapon Konoha needs to reestablish itself as the dominant Hidden Village. Sadly the excitement of being a BAMF wears off faster than you think.


**Hey. The idea for this story comes from Rinnegan97's Rinnegan Naruto challenge. The story is going to feature a pretty OP Naruto. You know, after he's been trained up a bit (^_^)**

**Besides that we'll also have a Sasuke who doesn't care too much about his heritage, an extremely motivated Sakura whose only goal is to become a powerful ninja and a Hinata who honestly can't see a point to the entire ninja life style. **

**Hopefully you like the characters enough to ignore my poor writing style :p**

**DISCLAIMER: Naruto is the original work of Kishimoto Masashi. He's this Japanese guy who's watched even more anime than me.**

* * *

The accepted wisdom of adults is that whenever a child says that 'this is the worst day of my life' they are revealing their ignorance of the world and the self-centeredness that comes with youth. After all, as conventional wisdom shows, children have easy lives. They have no responsibilities and have no experience with the true trials of the world.

Conventional wisdom often tends to be little more than truisms held by people so hopelessly lost in their own small world that asking them to step outside of it will likely lead to them lashing out at you in some way.

Take the case of Uzumaki Naruto, a three old from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Today is the 'fox hunt' and however barbaric the modern reader might view the tradition of chasing a frightened animal though the woods on horseback before dogs tear it to shreds, the author would like to stress this is not that. This, dear reader, you would find much more horrifying. You see, in Konoha, the fox hunt is something a series of drunken bitter people devised to honor the memory of their beloved Yondaime who fell to the Great Fox Demon, Kyuubi no Yoko. They track, maim and hurt a particular fox within the walls of Konoha; UzumakiNaruto, a three old boy born on the night of the Yondaime's death. The same boy the Yondaime sealed the Great Fox Demon inside of (after all, whoever heard of a demon actually dying or parents having a drop of sense to them?).

The fox hunt proper only began the year before and it was considered a failure by the people involved. An ANBU operative had appeared and severely wounded several of the hunters. This year, however, the game promised to be much more fruitful. This year the boy's orphanage was scheduled to take a trip to visit the underground sewer system built under the second Hokage. There it would be- or rather I should say had been, much easier to corner the boy.

"That!" yelled a large man as he drove his fist into the stomach of the boy so small he barely reach his knee "was for my sister. She was getting married the night you killed her." Another blow this time to the head so small you could nearly wrap your whole hand around it. Which the next man did. Taking the child's head in his hands he squeezed with all his might. Naruto screamed and screamed but no one answered. More than anything, right now he wished he could die. Time had lost all meaning between the kicks to his stomach and his breaking ribs. Soon consciousness left him, possibly one of the few mercies that day.

"Where am I?" wondered Naruto as he awoke at the end of a deep dark sewer in front of a massive barred room. The bars stretched off higher than any building the small boy had ever seen. "Am I dreaming?"

**No**, answered a deep voice. **You are very much aware. Now, why would you come here? Do you wish my power, mortal? You must. That is the only reason I am ever visited.**

"Sounds lonely," whispered Naruto before he could stop himself. "People only coming to you when they want to use you."

**Big words,** laughed the creature inside the cave. **You are too small to wonder about such things. Tell me why you are here, human. Surely it isn't for my charming wit and warm personality.**

Naruto giggled. "You're funny," he said. "Like old man, Hiruzen. He talks like that a lot."

**Hiruzen? Sarutobi Hiruzen? **Naruto nodded. **Hmmm. I didn't think humans lived for so long.**

"Old man is really old," Naruto said excitedly. He loved talking about his JiJi. "Everyone's grandparents were still kids while JiJi was already old."

**I doubt that,** answered the creature. Naruto could feel its eyes on him even if the darkness of the cell hid them.**You haven't the capacity in you to lust for power yet, so you must've been sent here. But this part of your mind shouldn't be accessible so easily… You're not in danger, are you?**

"I-I-I'm sorry," mumbled Naruto looking away. "Those men were- were hurting me and I- I wanted to get away from it."

**Cease that boo-hooing! Touch the seal on my cage and I will deal with your problem.**

Tentatively Naruto took a step forward. "A-are you gonna hurt me?" he asked staring into the great blackness of the massive cage.

**Of course not**, the creature in the darkness replied. **I hold no love for you but our lives are linked. If your flames extinguish mine will shortly follow. I cannot allow to you die, small one.**

With a hard swallow, Naruto reached out to the paper seal that held the cage in place. When his hand touched it something heavy pushed him to the ground. "Ahhh!" he yelled certain whatever this creature was it was going to eat him. "Please don't eat me! I- I don't taste very good!"

**I'm not going to eat you. But you must hold still. I am taking control of your body and if you continue to struggle it will not work. Do not worry**, it added as an afterthought. **The seal is in place. Whenever you will it I will leave your body and return here.**

"O-Okay…" The boy closed his eyes feeling the creature begin to work its way into him. "Woah… So weird," were the last things he said before falling even deeper into his own subconciousness.

**Get. BACK! **roared Naruto in a voice that wasn't his own. An eerie red glow surrounded him, the force of which was so strong it pushed every man around him the very edge of the room they were locked in. I **This body will need you to sustain it until it can reach help. **The men looked at one another some trembling in fear while others couldn't process what was happening. **Die**, the strange glowing creature commanded. Each of the five screamed. Through their clothes their insides burst sending speckles of red mist to every corner of the dank room.**Come…** it said and the blood and innards obeyed. Slowly they gathered at Naruto's feet. **Replenish me.** Somehow, the pile of gore disappeared when it reached Naruto's body and the wounds on him began to close.

**Good.**

* * *

_Where the hell did he go? _wondered a distraught Chuunin. The pink haired woman had gone off to save three boys who'd gotten too close to a sluice gate and were minutes away from being dragged miles away from the village. When she had finally gotten the boys out of that ridiculous mess and onto dry ground, her charge was nowhere to be found. _I told him to not wander too far from the group. C'mon, kid, where are ya?_

There was, unfortunately no sign of Naruto nor was there anything any of the children or caretakers could tell her. "He's always running off," said one nonchalantly. "I'm sure he's fine." Of course. Naruto wasn't her responsibility. At worst the caretaker would have to get recertified by the village or some other administrative nonsense. _She'd_ get fed to the wolves. Protecting something like Naruto was so absurdly above anything expected of someone not an S-rank ninja she barely slept at night for fear she had failed to tell her relief some crucial detail of the day. And now she literally could not find the boy at all.

Oh, yes, the Hokage would have her head for this. Several times if he could manage it. _Over a thousand jutsus,_ she thought envisioning what horrible fate would befall her. He'd been trained by the Hokage of his era, trained the legendary Sannin and earned the nickname God of Shinobi. Anything he chose to do there wouldn't be any way she'd be able to defend herself. _Calm down,_ the pink haired Chuunin told herself. _There's no reason to think he's in any danger. He probably just walked off to get away from all the mean stares the other children are always giving him._ It was as these thoughts crossed her mind that she felt the unmistakable chakra of the Nine Tailed Fox Demon.

The author, dear reader, would like to note that it is only when you begin lying to yourself, that the Fates deem you interesting enough to ruin. Or maybe you just feel everything that much worse because the picture frame holding your sanity together gets torn into a million splintered pieces. In either case it mattered little to this woman. Whether it was coincidence or the whim of some puckish god the neat little bubble she'd just began enveloping herself in was gone.

"No, no, no, no, no!" she moaned silently running as fast as her thick legs would carry her to where the chakra was coming from. Through the dank corridors she ran, passing rats and other things that found the low light environment to their liking. When she finally found the epicenter of that soul crushing force a large iron door blocked her way. "Naruto," she yelled banging her fists against the metal. "Naruto, it's me, Haruno-nii. Open this door!" There was faint screaming followed by a terrifying silence. The sound of cloth tearing and something that chilled her to her very being lay just beyond the massive door. Mustering her courage Haruno banged her fists against the metal once more. "Naruto! Open this door!" she yelled again. The pink haired Chuunin heard the sound of rocks falling as if something were tearing through the stone and Earth over their heads. Bringing her hands together she formed the seal of the tiger and the metal door was blown apart. "Naruto!" but there was no Naruto or fox or anything in that room except the bodies of five men all with their stomach's torn out. "No…"

Denial is an unfortunate emotional response to horrific scenes.

* * *

**Excuse me**, the Kyuubi possessed Naruto said as sweetly as he could manage (which wasn't very) **I have sustained a number of injuries. Would you kindly summon your healers to tend to me?** The woman behind the desk shrank back in fear. All of the hospital staff followed suit. It wasn't uncommon for the hospital to have strange patients. This was, after all, a ninja village. But for a three year old to burst in radiating what had to be the very aura of one of the world's mightiest creatures with his tail swishing about (a tail made of pure chakra no less) was foreign to the medic-nin to say the least. Try as they might, they couldn't think of which protocol applied here. **My injuries are quite severe**, the Kyuubi continued. **Several of my ribs are shattered and breathing is becoming difficult. I believe my large intestine is bleeding and that both my kidneys have sustained major damage. I am unlikely to survive a night without extensive aid. Can you not help me, Ms? **The Kyuubi would never win any great prizes for its people's skills but, by any rubric, it was incredibly polite. **Ms? **Kyuubi asked again, frowning slightly. **I really don't have very much time.**

"Of course," said a stern looking man in a large lab coat. There was a thin layer of sweat over his brow and there was a distinct lack of color on his face. Still, he was the only one not recoiling in fear. "Please step this way, young man, and I will have an ER team look at you."

**Thank you. Will you also need me to remain conscious? I am growing incredibly tired and the small amount of healing I drew from those five men has already dissipated into the air around me.**

"Uh, well, no," the doctor said finding his voice. He gestured for two teenage looking members of the hospital staff to bring a stretcher. "You-you mentioned your ribs are broken and that you are having difficulty breathing? That shall be our first priority and we shall work from there."

**Thank the gods for small favors,** murmured the possessed boy before collapsing onto the ground. Blood trickled out of his mouth and onto the floor where his head lay. The hospital staff looked a one another for a moment before carefully (but quickly) moving the boy into the Emergency Room. Afterall, a dying boy was definitely one of the scenarios they covered monthly. Such scenes were (sadly) normal for a hospital staff during the Era of Ninja Villages.

* * *

"So what's your name?" asked Naruto as he sat between the massive bars that caged whatever it was that had saved his life. "Oh- I'm sorry. Haruno-nii said it was rude to ask that without telling you mine first. I'm Uzumaki Naruto," the small boy said as he stood. Through the metal bars he extended his hand the size of a small tangerine."Pleased to meet ya!"

Beyond the darkness, where the unshaped mass of raw energy that was the Kyuubi no Yoko patiently counted the brief years between its jailor's lives, a small chuckle was heard. Slowly its body began to take form. First the hair, long and red; then her legs, long and muscular; then her arms, hard and strong; then the rest of her before two perfect red eyes formed. _**So this is the body this container would give me. Why the muscles though? I thought humans liked their women absurdly thin with all their weight in their breasts. No…**_ the Kyuubi chided itself. _**You forget he is only three. Puberty is not until a human's twelfth or thirteenth year. Right now strong people have muscles in his mind so I must have them as well.**_

**I have many names, Uzumaki Naruto**, answered the tall red haired woman as she stepped out of the shadows. **You may call me Kurama, if you like. It is as real as any name I would have.**

"Kurama," Naruto repeated slowly trying to make sure he could pronounce each syllable. Haruno-nii had stressed the importance of getting people's names right. It was rude to give up or deliberately mangle them. _Names are a reflection of someone's family and what the world knows them by_, she had said in that stern voice of hers. "You're really tall, Kurama," the boy said as he gapped at the woman in front of him.

Kurama couldn't suppress her laughter. **Yes! I am very tall! As tall as a mountain!**

"Yeah!" said Naruto in an awed voice. "You're even bigger than Haruno-nii and she's giant."

The chakra construct currently in the shape of a tall red haired woman scrunched up her nose. _**If these conversations are to continue he will have to become much more interesting.**_**Naruto**, she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. **Saying someone is giant isn't appropriately descriptive. You must both have a shared understanding of what qualifies something to be giant in order for what you mean to be properly understood. Relative, like metaphor and analogy, only work if you're standing on the same ground, so to speak.**

The small boy blinked. "Could you- uh- could you repeat that again, Kurama-chan?" Naruto asked.

**Why don't you tell me what you think it means?**

"Well…" he began slowly. "People gotta speak the same language so they can talk so people gotta know the same words too?" the blonde boy suggested tentively.

**Yes but that's only the surface ,**Kurama said as she absentmindedly stroked the boys hair. Somehow he had laid himself across her lap and she was now sitting on the floor of her prison. **The principle goes far further than that. People have different philosophies, wants, ways of expressing themselves. The conventional method for building empathy, the Golden Rule, as I believe it is called, is to ask yourself how you would wish to be treated in another's place. This is hardly sufficient as what I would want could be vastly different from what person Z would want.**

"I guess," muttered Naruto. "I mean, if I'm ordering food I'd want ramen but I guess somebody else would want dango or something. But no, isn't that the same thing? I mean we want different food but we each want our favorite food, right? So that's still the question."

**Not everyone would want the same food **_**or**_** want food at all, Naruto.**

"Yeah some would want something to drink, right?" Naruto agreed nodding. Kurama, for reasons unknown to the boy, began laughing in earnest. Tentatively he joined in unsure of what had been so funny.

**Oh you are amusing,** the ancient chakra construct said. **I will enjoy our conversations. **Naruto couldn't help but beam with pride at Kurama's half-compliment. He liked being noticed, not unlike the stereotypical three year old who lives in the minds of parents everywhere, and finding out he could do things. Making adults laugh was definitely a new thing. **Let's say Roku and Mei are out at the restaurant but it is Mei who must order for them both. How should Mei decide what to get Roku? Like you, Mei believes it is best to get people what they want so she resolves to get Roku her favorite dish. She knows Roku enjoys roasted pork so she tells the cook that is what her friend will have. The dish is brought out but… Roku isn't happy. You see Roku is on a strict diet to prepare for some competition or other and roasted pork is an indulgence she feels she cannot afford.**

"Then she's being stupid!" Naruto blurted out. Sitting up he turned to face his newest caretaker. It was hard to miss the bemused smirk playing on her lips.

**Is she? **Asked Kurama as she rested her chin on her palm.

"Yeah!" The boy responded hotly. "If someone does something nice for you you should be grateful. They're trying really hard to make you happy and maybe hurt themselves doing it. It's selfish." Naruto finished with a scowl on his face.

**Ah but then that means you lied to me, Naruto, **Kurama said to him with a smile. **We are no longer doing what's best for others or giving them what they want. You're argument is that our **_**intentions**_** supersede the feelings of the person on whose behalf we are acting. The Golden Rule changes from 'do unto others as you would have them do to you' to 'do unto others what you think is best.' Do you see the difference between the two?**

The boy nodded. "'Course I do," he said no longer frowning. "You-you can't always do to different people the uh the uh same stuff. You already said it, Kurama-chan- ugh."

**What's wrong? **asked the fox demon. Naruto, or at least the apparition of him that existed in this mindscape was clutching his chest.

"It-it hurts," Naruto stammered.

**You should not be able to feel any pain while you are here. And you're injuries were almost completely shut when the doctors finished operating on you. **Kurama stood and peered out into the long empty corridor that lead to her cell. **This is absurd**, she whispered with a shake of her head. **That is **_**his **_**chakra I am sensing but how can it be here?**

"Kurama," Naruto moaned as he dropped to a knee. "It really hurts."

_**Of course it does,**_ thought Kurama. **Someone has put something in you that does not belong here. Something that is killing you. I must once again ask that you touch my seal. Unlike before however I must warn you it will be a lot more difficult for you to reassume control. Not because I am likely to resist any harder than before but because I'm going to have remake a great deal of your body and your mind will be much weaker than before.**

"Hai…" The boy forced himself to his feet and placed a finger on the seal just like before. Once again a great force came down ontop of him and he was pinned to the ground. Unlike before there was no fear (possibly due to the pain he was now in) and Kurama began her work without protest from her container. The Eldritch Horror's plan was simple (on paper); fuse whatever alien cells these were with Naruto's own. Human cells were essentially the same as any other humans except for a few differences. It wasn't as if she were trying to fuse an avis with an anthropoid.

The red chakra of the Kyuubi n Yoko made its way throughout Naruto's body. It squeezed through each capillary coiling itself around each cell of the small boy's body. Acting as a filter, the red chakra slowly brought the DNA of the foreign blood into the nuclei of Naruto's was then the Kyuubi no Yoko realized just who these cells were and why they were killing the boy. **Madara, **Kurama said with a sigh. **Of course why wouldn't it be? Not only is his blood metaphorically toxic, it has to be literally as well! Hmmm? Strange. It seems Madara and this boy share a common ancestor. Oh, now this has got to be good. Father, you must love your little jokes. Uchiha blood inside a Senju? Admittedly a very distantly related Senju but it's close enough to warrant a few chuckles. It's too late to stop now. I suppose I'll have to deal with those wretched eyes again. You had best remain sweet and caring, Uzumaki Naruto. Else I will become the thing horrors are born from.**

* * *

Naruto would awake to a room filled with doctors each staring in shock as his heart rate stabilized and the hemorrhaging that had been threatening his life subsided. "What in the world?" asked one as he looked into the boy's open eyes. "Miyagi, you need to see this. Is that- I mean, is that really?"

"Contact the Uchiha Clan. They will want to know about this immediately," the man said as he hurried out of the room. "I will notify Hokage-sama myself. No one enters or leaves this room until I return!"

"But, Dr. Miyagi," the young doctor called after him. "How is this even possible?!" He yelled as he almost crossed the threshold of the hospital room door. Without warning he was thrown back into the room by a tall man with long silver-hair. The young doctor stared in surprise at the equally young man whose face was hidden behind a dog mask. "Who- who are you?" he stammered from his position on the floor.

"Nobody," the silver haired man replied as he casually walked into the room. Each nurse and doctor stared in obvious apprehension at the sword he carried on his back. "Are you nobody too?" Not waiting for an answer (or possibly realizing there would be none) Hatake Kakashi walked up to the foot of Naruto's bed. The small boy was staring at him wide-eyed completely at a loss as to what was going on. Haruno-nii had told him about these ninjas. They were called ANBU, the elite of the elite. They handled all the village's most dangerous missions and guarded all its secrets. For one of them to visiting him… well it couldn't mean something good.

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said good naturedly enough. "You and I now have something in common," he said as he handed the boy a small mirror. Hesitantly Naruto took it and peered into his own reflection. Instead of the sparkiling blue he had come to recognize as his own, Naruto's eyes were now red with three black tomoes spinning around the pupil. "We're both really handsome!" If he were a little less stunned, Naruto may have had some fresh retort but he was too confused to really say much of anything.

"Where-where's, Haruno-nii," the once blue eyed boy had asked.

"Painting the lily red," Kakashi answered turning back to the medics in the room. "No one leaves this room without my permission until Hokage-sama arrives. Is that understood?" Each man and woman in the room nodded, the edge in the masked ninja's 'friendly' voice too obvious for them to miss. Whatever was going on it was well above their pay grade, to borrow a military expression. Today was a bad day to be a medical professional.

"Are you going to kill us?" asked a woman in the corner of the room.

"Why would I do a silly thing like that?" the ANBU asked obviously bemused. "Do you know how much paperwork comes with that sort of thing?" The woman stared back at him, the fear in her face having given way to a cold stare. _You are unnaturally calm for a civilian,_ Kakashi noted as he looked at her through his mask. "Someone looks guilty…" the Jounin said in a sing song voice. The woman glared at him, defiance in her red eyes. "You'll be coming with me once Hokage-sama arrives."

"Hai," she said not shifting her glare from the man in front of her.

_The world likes its surprises,_ thought this same woman hours later as she sat in an empty room in one of the many prisons ANBU kept just for interrogations. She'd already run the gamut of pointless 'breakdown' techniques. Blinded, kept in a cramp space, accosted frequently and thrown about to and fro. In moment Ibiki or some other scarred freak with a penchant for watching humans bleed and scream would be walking in through that door ready to stick kunai through her joints, cut bits off her clit, start skinning her, hold her head under water pulling her up for air just often enough to prevent a complete blackout, etcetera.

All of which was pointless. Not because she wouldn't talk, dear reader, but because torture as the young red eyed woman knew was worthless. It didn't give you actionable information and anyone and everyone would eventually just spit out whatever stupidity they knew the torturer wanted to hear. You were never quiet as empathetic as you when some blowhard is cutting your eyelids off and pointing your head at the sun. She did plan to talk, of course, but for reasons entirely different from the ones whatever blow hard was going to be torturing her today thought. Orochimaru had been a means to an end and now so were these men.

"You seem comfortable," a tall man all in black said as he entered the room. _Morino __Ibiki._

"My name is Yuuhi Kurenai," the woman said coldly. "I'm an informant for Orichimaru, one of several he has in this village. If you want to know more you'll bring the Hokage to this room to speak with me." The old bastard would have to see just what he was ordering whenever he gave a shinobi over to Konoha's Interrogation Division.

Ibiki laughed, a cold braying like that of an old dog. "Ma'am, you attempted to assassinate one of our most valuable assets. You'll be telling me everything I want to know whether you want to or not."

"There's no need for an 'or' in that statement," Kurenai snapped. "And I will not be speaking again unless it is to the Hokage."

"Keep thinking that," Ibiki said with a smile. "It makes this more fun when you break." And without further discussion , the interrogation specialists lifted the woman onto her feat. He smiled as he spun her around. He laughed as she suppressed a yell when he tore the back of her dress cleanly off her body. He jeered as he turned her to face him again and ripped off the last bit of cloth covering her modesty. "Everyone talks," he told her as he threw her naked body across the room to a water basin.

_Endure it,_ Kurenai ordered of herself. _Endure and remember his face, his scent and his laugh. Someday you'll put a knife through his heart and it'll be blood coming out of his mouth, not laughter._

* * *

Three stoic men walked through the dark halls of ANBU' interrogation cells. One was a tall man, horribly disfigured and covered from head to foot in long black clothing. Only half of this man's face was visible but it was all one needed to see to know how dangerous he was. He was Danzo, one of Konoha's most influential and revered war patriots. The second man was not as tall or as fearsome but his long black hair framed a face so hard it would have put steal to shame. His name was Fugaku and he was the leader of the Uchiha Clan, the most feared shinobi in all of the elemental nations. The last man walked between them and he was not nearly as tall as either but his short white beard and wrinkled face was known throughout the shinobi villages. He was The Professor, the man who had refused to specialize in any one style, instead choosing to master all beyond what any man thought possible. His name was Hiruzen and he was the Shadow of Fire that led all of the ninjas of Konoha.

In short, this was not a troupe the author would ever wish anyone to be on the wrong side of.

"Those were my honorable ancestor's cells the boy was injected with, Hokage-sama," Fugaku said to the man on his right. "There is no question about it. It is exactly like those experiments Orochimaru-dono conducted with the Hashirama cells. The boy has incorporated them into his body as if they had always been there. He now has the fire chakra of the Uchiha and the sharingan we are feared for. The survivor of the Mokuton experiments only received the Bloodlimit. Young Uzumaki-san has received that and my ancestor's very chakra affinities as well. The boy's overwhelmingly strong wind affinity that would have prevented him from developing a second is now complimented by a strong fire and earth type."

"This is a fortunate opportunity, Hiruzen," the corpse of a man said with an obvious smile. "Our enemies sought to destroy one of our greatest weapons and have instead made him more dangerous than before. Fugaku-san, did not your mighty ancestor Uchiha Madara have the power to control the Kyuubi with his sharingan."

"Yes," answered Fugaku with a small glance at the Hokage. There were still several rumors about Uchihas being involved in the attack three years ago. "But the method has been lost to us over the years."

"That matters little." The smile on Danzo's face would have been frightening if the rest of him weren't already so unsettling. "He is only three and his sharingan is fully formed. That speaks of power hidden in him that could dwarf any since the founding. The raw power of a jinchuuriki, the longevity and tenacity of an Uzumaki and the skill of the Uchiha. Hiruzen, we have found our answer to the death of the Yellow Flash in his son!"

Hiruzen let out a long sigh. "I knew we would, Danzo. I had only hoped he would be a little older before he would have to carry on his father's legacy."

"It is an honor to be able to kill and die for one's village at so young an age," Fugaku said to the shorter man.

"Everyone certainly seems to think so," muttered Hiruzen as he led them to a door where Ibiki stood waiting for them. "Hello, Ibiki, were you able to get any information from her?"

"Just that she works for Orochimaru, Hokage-sama," Ibiki replied with a small bow. "She is… incredibly determined. She has not spoken in the twelve hours she has been here. Not even a gasp has escaped her lips since she swore she would only answer your questions, Hokage-sama."

"Ah well," the old man said with a smile. "I do have a way with women, you know. Perhaps the young lady has heard of my prowess. Danzo, Fugako, please wait here. I will be back shortly." The two men did not protest. It was pointless to when Hiruzen had made a decision. "Hello, young miss. You are Kurenai, I take it." The old man looked down at the black haired woman with bruises along her face and a dirty sheet draped across her front. She was tied to a chair in the center of the room, the ropes so tight she had long ago loss feeling in her hands and feet. "Hmm."

"Hokage-sama," the woman said respectfully. "I am glad you finally made it. As you can see your welcoming committee leaves a lot to be desired."

"Hmmm." He said again walking up to her. Hiruzen withdrew a small knife from his robes and cut the rope that held Kurenai in place. "Why has Orochimaru sent you to the Hidden Leaf?" the old man asked bluntly as he freed her legs.

_Straight to the point. _"He did not send me. I am a coconspirator, not pawn."

Hiruzen laughed. He stood and walked behind the woman breaking the last of the bindings. "My student never had coconspirators. He never trusted anyone that much. But if you are, then you realize such a confession makes you complicit in any crime he commits against us. The penalty for such a thing is death."

"Don't mock me," Kurenai spat back. She tried to stand but without feeling in her lower extremities balance was awkward and her stance reflecting this. Hiruzen smiled a clear sign there was no shift in the balance of power between the two. He was in control however she behaved.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Hiruzen said with a small smile. _He doesn't need to,_ Kurenai realized. _I'm pathetic enough as is. _"You said there was information meant for my ears and my ears only. So precious was this information you endured Ibiki's rough handling for a half a day without complaint. Would you kind share this information with me now that I am here and he is not?"

"Rough handling? Is that your preferred euphemism for torture? Tell me, what comes after stripping me naked and holding my head underwater until I stop fighting? What else is Ibiki allowed to do? Or is this one of those 'I trust his judgement' things?" Try as she might Kurenai could not stop the words coming out of her mouth. Diplomacy worked better than rage but after hours down here and everything she remembered about the Yondaime's battle tactics, she couldn't hold back the anger. Not after spending so many years in this place pretending it was a light in the darkness that was the shinobi world

"Would he have cut off my nipples? Put senbons through my clit? Would you let your men rape me until I'd lost all sense of self worth and couldn't fucking piss without asking for permission first?"

"I will not debate moral calculus with you, Yuuhi-san," the man said wearily. He had an impassive look on his face, the kind men often wore when they were too tired to feel. "Tell me what you know."

Kurenai glared at him as she clutched the dirty tattered cloth to her body. "You, Orochimaru and I have a common enemy. The man who freed the Kyuubi and cost you the Yondaime. That man plans to gather all the bijuu and sacrifice them for something. I don't know to what but I do know it'll give him something called the Infinite Sharingan. It's supposed to put the whole world under a genjutsu."

"And you know this because-?"

"I fucked him," Kurenai said with a shrug. "I was out wandering, he was moping like some five year old, and I tried comforting him. He went on and on about killing his sensei and how he was a monster. I think he was drunk. Anyway, I figure a pity fuck wouldn't cost me anything and the guy really looked like he needed one so we screw out there in the woods. Then he starts telling me about his plan and how perfect everything would be in his Genjutsu world. I freaked out and ran."

"Right into Orochimaru." Hiruzen was piecing the story together. This could all easily be a ploy from her to try and save her skin but… Why target Naruto? Orochimaru was a man without compassion but he was not a mindless killer. If this had some kind of experiment it would easily be Orochimaru's mondus operandi. But the intent was clearly to kill Naruto. "Why Uchiha Madara's cells? Why not a more conventional poison?"

"Orichimaru heard you were having issues with the Unchihas and Danzo. It was supposed to make it easier for me to deflect the issue if I was caught."

"Then why tell me who sent you?" The old monkey was curious now.

"The boy survived. More importantly, the boy has Senju and Uchiha blood in him now. That's something that guy I fucked said was really important to the plan except- except he already has one. Or is training one or something, I don't know. 'It will only be realized when a Senju meets the blood of an Uchiha.' It was something this Madara desperately wanted because it would give him power beyond the sharingan."

"And now that we have it you no longer feel the need to compromise your ethics?" Kurenai looked up to see Hiruzen was smiling again. "Kakashi." A masked man with a sword appeared beside the Hokage. The same man who had brought her here. "Escort Ms Yuuhi to a proper prison but see to it she is watched at all times. And yes, we'll talk later. But first I must see what parts of her story actually hold up."

"Very well…" With a nod to his superior Kakashi placed a hand on Kurenai's shoulder and the two disappeared.

"Was that wise given the allegations?" asked Danzo as he stepped into the room.

"Of course. Kakashi will personally want to verify every aspect of her story," answered hiruzen. "Fugaku, tell me, what is this Infinite Sharingan?" The black haired man fidgeted.

"It is something my ancestor Madara wished to acquire. One projects their sharingan onto the moon itself. But it's impossible, Hokage-sama. It would take more chakra than even a bijuu-" Fugaku's eyes widened as he realized the implication of what he was saying. "-could produce. All nine on the other hand…"

"How would one survive absorbing all nine bijuu?" asked Danzo. "One alone is enough to destroy the nervous systems of most shinobi. Especially at an adult age."

"I don't know," answered Hiruzen pulling a pipe out from robes. Fool that he was he thought this might make a good week to try to kick the habit. "But if we knew everything we wouldn't need Ms. Yuuhi alive now would we?"

* * *

Naruto lay in his hospital bed taking in the room around him. Kurama-chan had just finished explaining to him what his new eyes were and the young boy wanted to give them a test. She said whatever he saw would become engraved onto them forever so the blond tried memorizing how many tiles were in the room, where everything was and how long it would take to remember that information. It wasn't as amazing as he thought it would be. Sure the eyes would record everything and he could eventually call it back but unless he focused on something he didn't take in the information as fast as he wanted or even as fast as he normally could.

"This blows…" he said giving up. "These eyes suck, I should just stick with mine."

"That's hardly the attitude of a prodigy, Naruto, now is it?" Naruto shot out of his bed looking for wherever the voice had come from. "I'm right here. Turn them back on." He did and slowly a dark haired man with a round face and warm smile came into view by the window. "Hiya!" the man said with a wave. "My name's Shisui and I'm your sensei." Naruto stared unable to properly register just how the man could possibly have gotten in there without him noticing. Had he become invisible? "Not exactly. See, people don't take in everything they see. Not really anyway. Our eyes start filtering out information long before an image forms in our minds. I just figured out how to help that process along. And no I don't read minds but I'm damn good at guessing, right?"

Naruto frowned. This was all getting to be too much. More than anything he wanted Haruno-nii back so she could cuddle him and tell him everything would be ok. He'd even tolerate Sakura-chan trying to dress him up as a baby at this point. "Something wrong, kiddo?" Shisui asked taking a seat beside the boy's bed. Naruto turned away from him clearly signaling he was in absolutely no mood to talk. "Hey, don't shut me out. I'm here to help kid. I'm your sensei and that means your problems are my problems."

Naruto considered this for a moment. "What if I don't want them to be?"

"Then I buy you ice cream, show you some cool moves and wait until you're ready to talk," Shisui answered in the infectiously friendly voice of his.

"Where's Haruno-nii?" Naruto asked looking at the man with own ocean blue eyes.

Shisui's smile faltered. "She's busy Naruto. There's a mission she had to take."

"Haruno-nii said I was her mission."

"You are, Naruto, you are." Shisui ran his fingers through his messy black hair. Naruto was much too young to understand what Haruno Hina had decided to do. "This is something she had to do because-"

"Of what happened," the blond boy finished for him. "She's being punished, isn't she?"

"She's- she's punishing herself."

"Then when does she come back?" Naruto was now sitting up looking at Shisui intently. For a moment the ANBU felt as if he were under the piercing glare of Itachi.

"She doesn't," he admitted. Naruto blinked once before laying back down and turning away from the man who'd called himself his sensei.

* * *

Haruno Hina kneeled before the graves of her father and mother, Jonin who had died in the last Shinobi War. Haruno was not a famous name like Hyuuga or Uchiha but there was pride in that had been won through generations of hard work. Each Haruno had lifted the family higher, raising them from the simple fisherman family that had lived in Konoha under the rule of the First Hokage to a small but still reliable ninja family. When Hina's husband had approached her for marriage it had been he, already a Chuunin, who had taken on her family's name.

Hina looked from her parents' graves to her young daughter who stood a ways away, her yellow kimono still too big for her. The child would grow into it. She was strong, determined and resourceful. Haruno Sakura had all the traits of a great shinobi. She would grow to be amongst the best, Hina knew. Who could doubt her when Sakura stood there, her eyes dry, her face resolute. What Hina didn't know is that Sakura had simply run out of tears to shed. Or maybe she did realize it on some subconscious level (after all what child is so stoic at three?) but chose instead that her last image of her daughter would be of the proud warrior she believed her to be.

And believing sometimes makes things true. At least when it's the expectations of others forcing us to change.

"Why must mother do this?" Sakura had asked of the tall Chuunin beside her. The man had been a longtime friend of Hina (and a sometime lover since her husband's death) and was the only other who had come out to see the woman's farewell. "Why, Iruku-san? Why?" This had been when the girl's emerald eyes were still a window to her heart.

"Because your mother is proud, and Hokage-sama has stripped her of her rank," Iruka had answered pulling the girl to his chest. "No other clan would ever look upon you or her. You would be beneath civilians to them if you two became Jounin. It's dishonor beyond anything your mother wants for you." That had been what he had told the girl, to ease her pain. He felt differently. He hated Hina for this, he hated Hokage-sama for allowing it and he hated the damned forehead protector he wore that implied his agreement with the entire shinobi lifestyle. Iruka was at least as good as your somewhat above average Jounin but he had chosen to remain a Chuunin. One war had been all it had taken to convince him the entire system was broken.

Not so for Hina. It was the ninja life that had elevated her family so far from their modest beginnings. No other way would she have been able to own a home like she did or raise a daughter with all the food, clothes and toys the child could want. She'd given herself entirely to the world that had fulfilled her every dream. Today had been, not a fault of the system, but a failure of her own. Hina had forsaken her duty. Saving three boys had doomed five men and, most importantly, almost killed Konoha's jinchuuriki. There was denying how great her failure had been. Not that Iruka hadn't tried. He'd begged her, rationalized it all the best way he could but nothing would sway her mind. She'd kissed him one last time and made him swear on each morning they'd woken to each other's heart beat, he would look after Sakura.

How could he say no? He'd been an orphan himself and knew better than most what a hard life that could be. Iruka would be there for Sakura. Maybe she would never have the life a young girl deserved. She would never chase the cute boy or fight with other girls for his affection. She would never wear pink because it was it pink or get mad when people told her she was too boyish. But she would never be alone. Not if there was life in his body.

"Sayonara, Okaa-saan," Sakura whispered as her mother placed the blade to her stomach. In one motion Haruno Hina had split herself open. The lilies danced in the light rain created by Hina's blood. There was no cry of pain, no stifled moan. Just a blood soaked kimono, a now motherless child and a man wishing he'd been born in a different time and loved a different woman.

"Goodbye, Hina," Iruka whispered as a single tear fell down his cheek. _I'll forgive you someday. But I'll never understand why this had to happen._

* * *

**That's the first chapter. Thoughts? Do the characters seem believable enough? That's always something that makes me nervous.**

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed.**


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